


Babysitting

by pipionem



Series: Across the Spheres [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Babysitting, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipionem/pseuds/pipionem
Summary: After Padmé and Anakin's babysitter cancels last-minute, Rex ends up being conscripted to make sure the fifteen-month-old twins make it through the day.(Technically in my Across the Spheres 'verse, but can be read as a standalone)
Relationships: Leia Organa & CT-7567 | Rex & Luke Skywalker
Series: Across the Spheres [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1763200
Comments: 23
Kudos: 245





	Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

> So Torrent501 left a comment on Unfriendly Skies that included "crazy idea: maybe at some point you could do a one-shot where Rex has to babysit Luke and Leia in the previous fic's universe" and I was like "oh, yes, I want that to happen!" So here it is. Takes place a couple weeks before the events of the epilogue in Temper with the Stars/the start of Unfriendly Skies.
> 
> No context is really needed except for that in this universe, they managed to knock off Sidious and prevent Order 66 and everybody is happy.

“Ani, we have a problem,” Padmé said, sweeping into the kitchen with a look of alarm.

Anakin nearly dropped his fork. “What kind of problem? Is it your sister? Is she okay? Something to do with the Queen? She’s not asking you to take your seat up again, is she, not after all you’ve done for Naboo -”

Padmé laughed. “No, no, nothing terrible. The Queen _did_ ask me to take my seat up again, actually, but I turned her down. Really, if I were the current Senator, I’d be insulted.”

The tension eased out of Anakin’s shoulders. “Well, if it isn’t anything like that, what’s the problem?”

Padmé sat down at the table across from Anakin. “The babysitter just commed me,” she said. “She woke up with a nasty bout of Corellian flu, and she isn’t going to be able to watch the twins for the wedding.”

“That’s fine,” Anakin said, waving his hand. “Everybody loves the twins. I’m sure we can just ask someone else to watch them.” He pulled out his comm. “I’m going to call Obi-Wan right now. He’s always complaining he doesn’t get to see them enough.”

Padmé nodded, visibly relaxing. “Good idea.”

They sat and waited as the comm chimed for a minute and didn’t pick up. Anakin, never one to give up after the first attempt, tried it again. 

Finally, on the third try, the comm connected, and Obi-Wan’s voice filtered through, clearly disgruntled. “Hello, Anakin,” he said. “May I assume this is an emergency, seeing as you’re calling me at four in the morning Galactic Standard?”

Anakin winced. It was easy to forget that their house in Naboo’s Lake Country was several hours ahead of the Senate District on Coruscant. Unfortunately, this had not been the first instance of rousing Obi-Wan with a non-emergency call. “Hi, Obi-Wan,” he said. “Not quite an emergency, but we have a favor to ask.”

Obi-Wan sighed through the comm. “I have a feeling I don’t like where this is heading.”

“No, you’re going to like it!” Anakin insisted. “It’s just, okay, so Padmé’s sister, Sola, is getting married next week, and Padmé and I are both involved in the ceremony, so we need somebody to watch the twins,” he said in a rush. “Our babysitter called this morning to say she has the flu and can’t do it.” After several seconds of silence on Obi-Wan’s side, Anakin continued, “we’ll pay for the flight over and everything, don’t worry about that - just, um, it would be great if you could make it. Remember how last week you were saying you didn’t get to see them enough? This way, you’ll get a whole day with them to yourself!” Across the table, Padmé gave Anakin a thumbs-up.

“I’m sorry, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “Though I truly would like to help you out, I’ve been asked to leave next week to go help negotiations on Taris.”

Anakin frowned. “Can’t the Council send literally any other Jedi?”

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said in a long-suffering tone.

“Fine. Well, you should stop by on your way back. The twins miss you.”

“I doubt the twins know who I am, much less have any concept of missing me, but I miss you as well, Anakin. Now, I’m going to try and get at least three hours’ more rest, if you don’t mind.”

“Sorry. Talk to you later.” Anakin cut the comm and frowned at Padmé. “Who do we try next?”

“All of my family is going to be at the wedding,” Padmé said apologetically. “Ahsoka’s been so excited to go that we can’t ask her to stay and babysit, and Ahsoka Senior is off trying to find Maul again.”

Anakin thought long and hard. “I know just who to call,” he said. He punched a frequency into his comm.

Unlike with Obi-Wan, the call connected on the first try. Anakin grinned. “Rex!” he said.

“General,” Rex said, sounding tired. “It’s four in the morning for me, you know.”

“Sorry about that,” Anakin said. “Hey, what are you doing next week?”

“Uh… nothing that I know of. Why? Is something wrong?”

“Just the opposite!” Anakin said. “Padmé and I are going to Padmé’s sister’s wedding, and our babysitter just quit. How would you like to come to Naboo to watch the twins?”

“Well,” Rex said, “that sounds… dangerous,” he said.

“Nonsense. I watched them every day while Padmé did important Senatorial work until her term expired, and it’s easy. I’ll give you a list of rules and you’ll be totally fine.”

“Well… if you say so,” Rex said, his tone sounding more than a little apprehensive.

“Great! We’ll pay for the flight over, I’ll comm you with details. You’re a life-saver, Rex.”

“Always happy to help,” Rex said. “Uh, see you soon, I guess.”

Anakin cut the comm and beamed at his wife. “This will be perfect,” he said. “Rex is great with kids.”

“He is?”

“I mean, he was in charge of a bunch of them for four years,” Anakin said. “Best captain in the GAR.”

Padmé reached over and picked up a piece of fruit from the fruit bowl. “Well, Luke and Leia aren’t a battalion.”

“Sure they are!” Anakin said. “They’re as much trouble as one, anyway. Speaking of which, did you see Leia yesterday? She and Ahsoka were playing with that little stuffed fish your parents gave her, and she levitated it!”

Padmé smiled. “Yes, you told me twice already,” she said. 

Anakin beamed. “I’m so proud,” he said.

“Will Rex be able to handle any… Force-related nonsense?”

Anakin waved a hand. “He handled me and Ahsoka, didn’t he? He’ll be fine, trust me.”

On cue, one of the twins began screaming, and Anakin darted into the next room. Ahsoka was sitting, holding baby Luke, trying desperately to calm him down. She looked up. “He’s hungry,” she informed him. “I tried to calm him down, but he wasn’t having it, and I didn’t want to give him too much of a Force suggestion,” she said apologetically. Leia was on the floor next to her, gnawing at a teething ring and looking at her wailing brother with wide eyes. 

“No worries,” Anakin said. He took the offending baby from Ahsoka and into the kitchen, where Padmé was already spooning baby food onto a little plate. “It’s breakfast time, Lukey!” he said, poking Luke’s nose. Luke’s eyes widened at the sight of food, and he held up his arms towards the highchair.

Anakin sat him down on the chair while Padmé got out a baby spoon and began feeding Luke. Instantly, he stopped crying, focusing all his energy on eating the mush in front of him. After a few spoonfuls, he decided he was done, and began flinging the rest around the kitchen.

“Luke!” Padmé chided. “No throwing food!”

Luke looked up at his mother. “Food!” he agreed happily, heaving a large glob directly onto Padmé’s face.

Anakin burst out laughing. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “Rex is going to love them.”

Rex arrived a few days later, in the evening. Civilian life was suiting him, Anakin thought - he looked happy, and the perpetual stress of battle was gone from his face. It was good to see him in normal clothes, too, though he favored a mostly-black outfit that was reminiscent of the blacks he’d worn under his armor. He arrived with a small suitcase that Padmé took from him to put in the guest room.

There was a brief, slightly-awkward-but-unavoidable group hug of welcome, and then Anakin and Padmé sat Rex down at the table to discuss the rules. There were a lot of them, and a lot more suggestions, including ‘do NOT give Luke cake if you don’t want to have another traumatic diaper-changing experience,’ which Rex nodded and took with as much seriousness as he would any military order. He’d been there three months ago on the twins’ first Life Day and seen firsthand the disastrous results of Anakin giving Luke as much cake as he wanted. It had not been a pleasant experience.

“And if you need anything, just comm us,” Padmé said. “We’ll only be an hour south, if there’s an emergency don’t hesitate.”

“If there’s an emergency,” Anakin said, “We’re only going to be half an hour south. Seriously.”

Rex looked over to where the twins were sleeping quietly. They couldn’t be too bad, right? They looked like perfect little angels. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll be able to handle it.”

Ahsoka grinned. “I’ve babysat for them tons of times,” she said. “They’re a handful.”

Rex didn’t doubt it.

The next morning, Padmé, Anakin, and Ahsoka left for the wedding after giving Luke and Leia breakfast. Rex waved them off and walked back inside to play with the twins. They were just babies, after all; how hard could it be?

He got out his suitcase and pulled out the toys he’d brought for them. Rex didn’t really know what sorts of toys to get for babies, so he’d gotten an assortment of things: two mini clone trooper action figures (large enough so as not to be choking hazards), a stuffed starship nearly as big as they were, and some large, brightly colored blocks that could be fit together. 

The twins loved them. Or, well, Rex thought they did. He was a little concerned that Leia’s first instinct was to chew on the head of one of the action figures. Gently, he reached out and took it away, offering her the teething ring that Anakin had said she liked.

“There you go, ad’ika,” he said. “This is better for chewing.”

Leia drooled appreciatively. Luke, meanwhile, was staring at the ship with wide eyes. “‘Peeder!” he said, excitedly. 

“Not quite,” Rex said. “That’s actually a _Venator_ -class Star Destroyer. Me and your dad used to go on one just like it all the time!”

Luke looked up at him blankly. “‘Peeder!” he exclaimed.

Rex smiled. “Yeah, okay,” he said. “Everything’s a speeder.”

Really, Rex thought, this was practically easy. The twins were happy to sit around and play, and Rex was happy to play with them. He held up the stuffed ship and made _vroom_ ing noises while Luke eagerly tottered after it, ignoring the fact that really, Star Destroyers didn’t make _vroom_ ing noises. 

“Up!” Luke cried holding the ship to Rex. “‘Peeder up!”

Rex took the ship and held it just a little higher than Luke could reach. “Here it comes!” he said, and vroomed it around. Luke laughed happily.

“No,” he said, “ _up_ !!” And then, Luke closed his eyes and the stuffed ship began to _float_ , and damn it, Rex thought they were too young to have that kind of nonsense already.

“Rex can’t make the ship float,” he said gently, plucking the ship from the air. 

Luke looked at him stubbornly. “Luke _up_!” he demanded, raising his arms.

Rex’ eyes widened. Surely Anakin didn’t _levitate_ his _children_ , right? Rex had experienced enough Force-assisted flying during his tenure in the GAR for several lifetimes. He picked up Luke and twirled him around, smiling at the child’s happy laughter.

Leia looked up from where she had resumed - to Rex’ dismay - chewing on one of the action figures’ helmets and stuck her arms up. “Up!” she cried. Carefully, Rex leaned down and picked Leia up with one arm, standing so both children were held. 

“Story?” Leia asked, resting her head On Rex’ shoulder. Rex smiled. He walked over to the couch and settled down so both kids were leaning up against him. 

“Once,” he said, adopting a tone of voice he hoped would be captivating, “there was a very brave warrior, so strong that nobody could ever defeat him. He was the leader of his people, and they all respected him. All his enemies recognized that they would have no way to defeat him in battle, so they devised a trick: they sent him a gift, and said: if you can defeat the next face you see, we will surrender. The warrior thought this would be a good way to end all the fighting, so he agreed, and swore his oath to defeat the next face he saw. But when he opened the gift they had given him, it wasn’t the face of one of their bravest warriors, it was a mirror - so he saw his own face. And that was the one person he could never defeat.” Rex was getting a little too wrapped up in the story - it had been one of his favorites, but he turned to see both kids looking at him with a mixture of boredom and confusion. 

“‘Peeder?” Luke asked.

Rex sighed. “Alright. Once upon a time, there was a speeder.”

Luke cheered. “Blue ‘peeder!” he said.

“Alright. A blue speeder. And, uh, it could go very fast.”

“Vroom!” Luke said.

“Vroom vroom,” Rex agreed. “So, um, this speeder was the fastest speeder in the galaxy.”

Luke clapped. Then, suddenly, Leia’s eyes widened. “Uh-oh,” she said.

Rex tensed. Was something wrong? Something she could sense? He looked at Leia. “What’s wrong?”

Leia giggled. “Luke poo,” she said. 

If anything, that made Rex’ stress levels rocket higher. He sniffed, and, sure enough, Luke poo alright. 

“Okay, let’s get this changed,” he said, grimacing. He picked up the offending child and carried him over to the diaper table. “Stay here,” he said, pointing a finger at Luke. 

He walked into the other room to get Leia, but she was nowhere to be found. Panic now skyrocketing, he called out, “Leia? Leia, where are you?”

Leia was betrayed by a giggle coming from the guest room, and Rex dashed over to find her hiding in the shadows. He tsked and picked her up. She was still giggling when they made it back to the diaper table, only to find that Luke had now vanished. Frowning, Rex decided to keep his hold on Leia while he looked for Luke. For someone so small, they were _fast!_

Luke was discovered trying to crawl under the sofa to reach a toy. Rex scooped him up and put him back on the diaper table, sitting Leia down a few feet away where he could keep an eye on her.

What happened next was a disaster of unmitigable proportions. At the same time that Rex screwed up his face with courage to deal with Luke’s stinky little problem, Leia announced again, _uh-oh_ , and proceeded to throw up all over herself. Immediately, Rex moved to wipe it down, but that allowed Luke to get away, and pretty soon Rex was convinced that this might really be the end for him. 

With much cajoling and a patience that would have rivaled General Kenobi’s, Rex managed to get Luke back into a clean diaper and get Leia into fresh clothes. On a hunch, he took her temperature and frowned. She was running a slight fever.

Rex thought about calling Anakin, but stopped himself. This was _not_ an emergency, he told himself. He just needed to figure out what to do with a sick toddler and he would be fine. Anakin and Padmé would be back late tonight; Rex could hold down the fort until then. Gently, he settled Leia down for a nap. 

Nearly as soon as he had done that, though, Luke was crying about something or another. Rex shhed him. “Don’t wake up your sister, ad’ika.” He winced as Luke howled. And soon enough, Leia was awake too, and crying to let Rex know about it.

Frowning, Rex checked. He could give them some lunch, maybe? He strapped the twins into their highchairs and brought over some baby food. Picking up a spoonful of mush, he brought it towards Luke’s mouth. “Here comes the speeder,” he said, pushing the spoon towards Luke.

Luke looked away defiantly. “No!” he shouted. 

“Yes,” Rex insisted. “Yum yum!”

Leia threw up again and started crying. Rex ran to the kitchen to get some wet towels to clean up the mess, only to discover that, when he got back, Luke had also thrown up. Carefully, he wiped both kids up and decided that they would try again for lunch soon. 

Just then, his comm rang. Grimacing, Rex picked it up.

“Hey, Rex!” It was Anakin’s voice. “We made it to Sola’s - how are things over there?”

Rex winced at the sound of Luke shrieking and throwing his spoon across the table. “Uh, fine,” he said. “Things are going great.”

Padmé’s voice cut through. “Is that Luke?”

“Yeah,” Rex said. “Doesn’t want to eat his vegetables.”

“Try putting them down for a nap,” Anakin said. “They’ll be hungry and in a better mood when they wake up.”

“Got it. Have a fun time at the wedding.”

“Will do! See you later!” The comm cut.

Rex attempted to put Luke and Leia down for a nap in their cribs, but they remained fussy, so he ended up lying on the guest room bed with one twin on either side, tucked securely in with his arms. He hummed the melody of a song softly. After several minutes, they were finally both asleep. 

Rex relaxed and wondered how on earth Anakin and Padmé dealt with this every day. Sure, Ahsoka was there to help, too, but Rex was exhausted after only a couple hours. He couldn’t imagine nonstop. 

Before long, Rex realized he had fallen asleep, and was being woken up by Leia, who was poking his face. He opened one eye warily. 

“Uh-oh,” she said, and Rex leapt into action, just managing to carry Leia to the refresher in time for her to throw up. She started crying, and Rex patted her back softly. 

“Shhh, it’s okay,” he said. “That doesn’t feel too good, huh?”

Leia shook her head, still in tears. Rex wiped the little bit of throw-up still on her face off and carried her to the kitchen, where he filled up a sippy-cup full of juice. “Drink this,” he said, giving her the sippy cup. “That’ll make it taste better.”

Leia looked at him with wide eyes as she drank from the sippy cup, letting out a tiny burp. Rex felt her forehead. Still a little warm, but it didn’t feel too bad. He carried her back to the bedroom, where Luke was still fast asleep. 

Leia snuggled closer to Rex, still sipping her juice, until she fell asleep. Carefully, Rex picked up the juice and deposited it on the bedside table. He put a hand on Luke’s forehead and frowned at the warmth there.

After their nap, Rex tried to get them to eat, but whatever bug they had both caught was ruining their appetite. Eventually, Rex settled on just trying to make sure they stayed hydrated.

Later that evening, after Leia had thrown up a total of twelve times and Luke a total of nine times, and Rex had just barely had time to eat some dinner, he brought the twins back to his room to try and go to sleep for the night. The stuffed Star Destroyer was clutched desperately in Luke’s arms. 

Rex hadn’t intended to fall asleep himself, but the scene that Anakin, Padmé, and Ahsoka walked in on was this: Rex, sound asleep in his clothes, one arm around each twin, who were both also asleep (and in their pajamas). There was a storybook half-opened on Rex’ chest, and Luke was holding onto the Star Destroyer with one arm, the other curled around Rex’ left bicep. Leia’s head was cushioned on Rex’ chest, and she was smiling faintly in her sleep.

Ahsoka gasped and put her hands to her mouth. She turned to Anakin. “ _Look_ ,” she whispered. 

Anakin smiled and snapped a holo. “I’m never gonna let him live this down,” he whispered back.

**Author's Note:**

> The holo gets framed prominently on the wall and stays there for many years.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought :)


End file.
